The present invention generally relates to laser systems. Specifically, the present invention relates to a system and method for monitoring the operating status of a laser used in a printing operation.
Current laser marking systems provide limited mechanisms for monitoring an operating health or status of a laser. The lack of feedback on the operating health of a laser often results in a loss of production time as well as the need to discard damaged or incompletely marked product.
Several parameters of a laser are important indicators of the operating health of the laser. For example, the laser output power, or optical power of the laser, is a measurable parameter that can be used to infer the health or status of the laser. A decrease in the sampled optical power may reveal a problem with the laser. Such a decrease may also be used to warn a user of the laser system of a potential problem.
However, monitoring the optical power of a laser alone may be an insufficient measure of the operating status of the laser system. For example, a decrease in the optical power may be caused by a number of problems. Some of the problems may be temporary and require little or no action by a user. Other problems, such as dirty optics of the laser, may indicate a need for maintenance on the laser. Other, more serious problems, such as a change in gas pressure in the laser or a failing radio frequency (“RF”) source, may require immediate attention. Any one or more of these problems may be associated with parameters other than the optical power.
Unfortunately, a measurement of a single parameter, namely the optical power of the laser, by itself may not provide sufficient information to ascertain the cause of a problem. To provide useful information on the operating health of the laser, additional parameters must be sensed, measured, and/or monitored. The information obtained from the monitoring of additional parameters can allow for a laser system to warn a user when any number of parameters indicates a problem with the laser. For example, the monitoring may reveal an impending failure of the laser. In addition, the monitoring of parameters may also provide predictions on the future operating health and status of a laser system.
Current laser systems do not include any apparatus or method for monitoring the operating status of a laser. Current apparatuses and methods do not measure sufficient parameters to accurately monitor problems with the laser. In addition, current apparatuses and methods do not provide any prediction of the operating status of a laser. Therefore, a need exists for an apparatus and method for monitoring an operating status of a laser.